Mon Petit Ange
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: This is the untold story of the life of Gabrielle Aurore Delacour, her schooling, her friends, her family, her loyalty to all that she always held dear and why she will always be Fleur's little angel.
1. Gabrielle Aurore Delacour

Mon Petit Ange

Summary: This is the untold story of the life of Gabrielle Aurore Delacour, her schooling, her friends, her family, her loyalty to all that she always held dear and why she will always be Fleur's little angel.

Disclaimer: JK Rowling's property, as per usual.

Chapter One

Pained screams echoed through Manoir De L'or, the home of Vacheil and Apolline Delacour, who lived in luxury along with their nine-year-old daughter, Fleur Odette, who was sitting in her spacious bedroom, clutching onto her pure white teddy bear as she listened to her mother's cries.

Vacheil was in a similar position, sitting in his study with his head in his hands. He slowly his head, however, as the screams suddenly stopped, replaced with a quiet wail. It was at that point that he bolted towards the master bedroom, taking the steps two at a time, accidentally bumping into the present Healer as he ran. He slowed to talk to her, then nodded his head, acquiescing to her suggestion and changing his direction, ascending the stairs towards the room of his daughter.

A knock came at the white door of the lilac room and the young girl to whom it belonged answered, her teddy bear trailing after her through the carpet. Her saddened expression lifted a little as she saw her father smiling in the doorway.

"Fleur, _ma __chérie_, do you wish to see your mother?" asked Vacheil, in his comfortingly low voice, his strong French accent distorting the words slightly. The Delacour family had always spoken both French and English within the confines of their home, so that their daughter would grow up speaking English as well, to make her life a little easier when she came to leave home.

"_Oui, s'il vous plaît,_ _Papa._" answered Fleur, the prospect lifting her spirits higher than they had been all day.

"Come along then." he beckoned, taking the paw of Fleur's teddy bear, while the young girl held onto the other paw in her own hand, father and daughter walking down the stairs hand in hand. Just as they reached the master bedroom, Vacheil stopped Fleur, bending down so that they were closer to eye level.

"Now, Fleur, your mother will be very tired, so you will have to be careful of her, and of the baby, of course. _Comprenez-vous?_" finished the man, his voice stern, yet with a strong note of affection.

"_Oui, Papa._" answered Fleur, upon which Vacheil knocked the door and entered the room.

"Apolline, _ma chérie_, I've brought Fleur to come and see you. Come here, Fleur." Fleur took a few tentative steps to join her father. However, her nerves vanished the moment she saw her mother sitting comfortably in her bed, clutching a bundle of light blue blankets carefully to her chest.

"Oh, _Maman_, I am so happy to see you!" exclaimed the nine-year-old, running towards her mother and wrapping her arms around her.

"I am glad to see you as well, _ma _Fleur. Careful! You'll squash your little sister, _ma bête_!"

"Oh, I'm sorry_, Maman_!" cried Fleur, settling down beside her mother and leaning in, so as to get a closer look at the new addition to the family.

"What do you think of her, _ma chérie_?" questioned Apolline, watching with a smile as Fleur pulled back the blanket, revealing a gentle heart-shaped face, wide sparkling blue eyes and a few tufts of golden blonde hair.

"She's beautiful, _Maman_! She's like the angel in my Muggle Christmas storybook, the one that you always read to me when I was little."

"Yes, she does a little. The angel Gabriel. Gabriel." Then Apolline gasped as she, her husband and her daughter thought precisely the same thought. However, it was Fleur that voiced the thought.

"Gabrielle."

"Yes, Fleur. Her name is Gabrielle. Gabrielle..."

"Aurore?" suggested Vachiel, gazing from the window. True to his suggestion, the sky was alive with oranges, pinks, yellows and reds, signalling the dawn of the new day.

"_Oui, Maman, c'est parfait_!" cried Fleur, clapping her hands together in delight. Just as Fleur said this, the tiny baby girl in her mother's arms let out a small giggling noise.

"She likes it!" smiled Vachiel, sitting down to put his arms around his wife, his daughter snuggling back towards his free hand a little.

"Alright, then it is settled. _Mon petit ange_, Gabrielle Aurore Delacour."

A/N: Quite a short chapter, but I had this idea about midday today and I desperately wanted to get the first chapter up today, because I only update on Sundays, so I'd've had to wait a week. Please let me know what you think.


	2. Extraordinary

Chapter Two

A/N: I've decided to do a different format for this than 'Imperfections of an Angel', though I'll be changing the format on that too, soon, so instead of one chapter per year, it'll just be like any other chapters. Also, thank you to my brilliant reviewer, my bff, headinclouds123. Now, on with the story...

Seven years to almost the very day and Gabrielle was sitting in her bedroom, watching with interest as the silver flowers painted onto her celeste coloured wall, reflecting glimmers of light into her Venetian glass mirror and back into the curtain of golden hair flowing down her back. Everything was peaceful and calm. For the next three seconds.

Suddenly, a loud, frustrated scream came from the next room, followed by a long string of curses in fluent French. Only one person in the Delacour family would resort to cursing in annoyance and Gabrielle didn't have a doubt as to who it was.

Lifting herself up effortlessly from her bed, the young girl exited the room and padded down the corridor, stopping to knock gently on the door at the opposite end of the corridor and walking straight into the room without waiting for a reply.

The complete opposite of Gabrielle's bedroom, the room she had walked into was an absolute mess. Papers, books and quills covered the floor, an inkpot laid down by the side of the bed, where an almost identical, yet older, blonde girl sat, repeating an incantation over and over again while waving her wand, throwing it down in frustration after the third attempt. She eventually turned to the door, smiling a little once she saw Gabrielle at the door.

"Oh, 'ello, Gabrielle, _mon ange_. Are you alright?"

"_Oui_, Fleur. I 'eard you cursing from my bedroom, I just wanted to know what was wrong and if I could 'elp."

"Oh, _non_, _mon ange_, I am alright. I am just a little _frustré_, that is all. This spell is extremely 'ard."

"What is it?" asked a curious Gabrielle, sitting down on the bed beside her elder sister.

"Oh, it is called the _Patronus Charm_. It conjours an animal made from light and it wards away Dementors."

"What are Dementors?" the younger girl asked, confused, as her age meant there were certain things she had never been told about, Dementors being one of the them.

"They guard the Azkaban prison. They're truly 'orrible creatures, they turn the air cold when they are near. They're vile." Fleur explained, choosing her words carefully and missing out a major detail about them in an attempt not to scare her. It had clearly worked, as she just nodded in grave understanding, before turning back to look at the textbook again.

"Fleur, _c'est simple_!" Gabriella exclaimed after a few moments of silence.

"What? 'ow?" Fleur shot back, her voice clearly showing her confusion at how her younger sister could think something so difficult could possibly be simple.

"Fleur, all you have to do is believe. If you do not believe, then it won't work. Watch me." Gabrielle added, picking up the thin strip of rosewood from the bedspread and pointing it straight towards the wall.

"_Expecto Patronum_." she cast in a clear voice. For a moment, nothing happened, but a few seconds later, a large ball of silvery light appeared from the tip of the wand, twisting and turning before taking the shape of a cygnet gliding across the water. Fleur merely sat with her mouth open in awe, her eyes darting across the room to follow the shape of the minature silvery swan. It faded after a moment, but Fleur's admiration did not.

"Gabrielle, that was amazing!" Fleur cried, wrapping her arms around her younger sister.

"Was it?" The young girl truly seemed to have no idea how extraordinary the charm she had just performed was for a seven-year-old.

"Yes! Stay 'ere, _un moment_." Fleur instructed fondly, getting to her feet and flying through the door, taking the stairs two at a time before finding her mother sitting in the parlor, reading a new romance novel.

"_Maman_, you will never guess what Gabrielle 'as just done."

"What?" Apolline asked her daughter, genuinely interested in what Gabrielle had done. As her youngest daughter was a very shy child, so she really did not know what she did in her spare time.

"She cast a _Patronus Charm_!" Fleur exclaimed, watching at her mother's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"She did?" Apolline managed to breath, her hand raising to her chest in an effort to slow her racing heartbeat.

"So can we? I 'eard you and Papa talking about it, _Maman_. Please, please, _please_, can we enter her for the exam? I know she would pass." Apolline listened as Fleur begged. She knew precisely what her elder daughter was asking about, as, true to Fleur's statement, she and Vacheil had been indeed started talking about it when Gabrielle had begun to show extremely strong signs of magic just a few weeks previously. Allowing the young girl to take the Beauxbattons entrance exam would mean that, should she pass, Gabrielle would enter the school alongside the eleven-year-old girls in September. Apolline eventually sighed and spoke to her eldest daughter.

"Fleur?"

"_Oui_, _Maman_?"

"Could you go and fetch your sister, please? We 'ave a school to attend." Fleur's face lit up at these words and she ran up the staircase, shouting behind to her mother as she went.

"_Merci, Maman_!"

Apolline laid back into the cushions of the chair she was sitting on her, her novel now closed in her lap. It seemed that she would have to let go of her little girl early after all.

A/N: Please let me know, as per. Review!


	3. Willow and Unicorn

Chapter Three

A/N: Thanks to my great reviewers, maggy black (thanks for the corrections), michal613 and dream-on-sunday (my best friend who changed her PenName).

A few weeks after Gabrielle's first _Patronus_ charm was cast, she, her mother and her elder sister were standing together in the entrance to Allée de la Magie, to begin their preparations for the next Beauxbattons school year.

Gabrielle had later on that day sat the annual Beauxbattons entrance exam. She was the youngest girl there and, to little surprise, she had passed the test with flying colours, being set to join September's group of first years at the school.

Fleur was relatively bored by the appearance of the street, naturally, as she was fairly used to it, having seen it for six years, but Gabrielle found it, in all essence of the word, magical.

The first shop they went to was the shop where they would purchase their books for their lessons and for light reading, something more suited to Gabrielle than to Fleur, _Fait et Contes de F__ées_. There they purchased the girls' books for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and History of Magic, as well as a handbook on Flying classes for Gabrielle and Divination and Apparition books for Fleur, who had elected to take those subjects.

The second shop was an apothecary. Gabrielle did not like this shop as much as she had the book store, but Fleur was utterly in her element. Despite having an appearance that would elude this fact, Fleur was highly talented at Potions, often scoring the highest in the class. She practically raced around the dimly lit aisles, selecting various ingredients from dozens of different shelves, never staying in one place for over a few seconds. Gabrielle merely stood in the doorway with her mother, allowing Fleur to gather her ingredients for, a mutually acceptable arrangement for the girls.

The third shop they entered was far more exiting. It was the menagerie, and Gabrielle was utterly fascinated by the different species of owl, cat and toad that they offered for sale. At Beauxbattons, the rules dictated that each family of students must own an owl, as many were not French, but may bring a cat or toad with them also. Fleur already had a snowy owl named Neige, and as it was highly frowned upon by other students to bring a toad with you, due to the slime, Gabrielle bolted straight for the cats. There were many different types on show, portly and thin, black and white, furry and not so, but the one that caught her eye was a white cat with stripes of silver in its fur. The young girl thought it was beautiful, and as its sapphire blue eyes caught hers, she knew she had to have this cat. It turned out to be one of the most expensive, at eighty six Galleons, but after a straight half hour of begging, her father had had enough and bought her the cat, along with a bed bowl and collar of the same shade as its eyes. Due to the majestic look about her, Gabrielle named the cat Princesse.

The fourth shop they went to drained the excitement right out of the girl, as it was the shop that fitted her for her uniform. It took a little longer than supposed to, unfortunately, as Gabrielle kept bending down to gift a treat to (Princess in French-fill in at home), and so was finished a full ten minutes after Fleur, giving her a grand total of fifty five minutes. Both girls left the armfuls of fabric, consisting of five ruffled blouses, three skirts, two blazers, one best dress, one shawl, seven pairs of white tights and a pair of patent blue pumps, the first heels Gabrielle had ever owned, not to mention their dress robes, a silver and white embroidered gown and silver shoes so high that they made their school shoes look practically flat to the younger Delacour sister. Still, she could hardly complain after the amount of money that had been spent on the garments, far more than she, or her father for that matter, would have liked, so decided to keep silent.

The fifth shop was by far the most exciting. It was ornately decorated and filled with interest, each shelf behind the counter full to the brim with boxes. It was one of the most amazing places Gabrielle had ever seen. It was Bucheron's wand emporium.

A rich aroma of cinnamon and candlewax filled Gabrielle's nostrils as she walked inside the shop, to be greeted by a small woman behind the rosewood counter.

"Well, _bonjour_, _mes amis_." she greeted them, waving them into the shop beside the fire. "Now, who am I to be matching a wand to today?"

"My younger daughter, Gabrielle." Apolline answered, pushing the girl in question towards the woman, causing her to stumble slightly.

"Ah. Well, _ma cherie_, do you know what sort of a wand you think you would suit? Why don't you tell me a little about yourself? That may help."

"Well… I read a lot. I like animals, mainly cats and horses…"

"She performed a Patronus charm when she was seven." Fleur butted in, being jabbed in the back by her mother as soon as the words passed her lips.

"She _is_ seven." Apolline pointed out, a slight smirk of pride on her lips.

"Hmm. Very powerful, then, but still caring. With great potential as well, I see. Hmm…" Madame Bucheron, then retreated behind the counter, reaching across to pluck a box from a shelf beneath it. "Try this."

Gabrielle took the box from the woman's hand, opening it and taking the thin strip of wood from inside. As soon as the wood had touched her fingertips, a golden glow surrounded her.

"Indeed, I thought so. Willow and unicorn hair. Most suited to you, I would think. Use it well."

"I will." Gabrielle promised, though she was still concentrating on the strip of wood in her hand.

"And now you are ready to go to Beauxbattons, my darling." Apolline told her youngest daughter, as they exited the shop. "Now you are ready for the future."

A/N: Here we go again, back to updates finally. Please review!


	4. Saying Goodbye

Chapter Four

A/N: Still, no reviewers. *sobs*

It was not until the 1st of September that Gabrielle truly considered the impact going to school would have on her life. True, the school was only on the other side of the city, but that was further away from her parents than the young Delacour had ever been.

In fact, Gabrielle had never been further than her aunt's house, just three streets away, and that was only for one night. How would she be able to cope for an entire term? How would she be able to cope for seven years?

Of course, she would have Fleur, but the girl was nine years older than her. She supposed it could have been worse, if she had attended the school later in her life, as the girl would have been long since gone, but even so, Fleur would be leaving the next year, taking with her the only sense of security she had. She would have no one at all.

"Don't worry!" Fleur had told her younger sister, a countless number of times. "By the time I'm gone, you'll have made dozens of friends, and you'll hardly notice I am not there."

Somehow, Gabrielle could not bring herself to believe her. It was perhaps one of the first times the younger sister had not believed the elder, but she truly could not listen to Fleur.

"Not matter how many friends I have, I'll still be alone, really." Gabrielle had whispered to herself the night before, when she had lain awake late into the twilight hours. "Friends can come and go, and without Fleur, I won't have anyone to hold on to. I won't have anyone to keep me safe, or to comfort me when I miss the family. I won't have anyone at all."

"Yes, you will." came a slightly louder voice from the doorway of the young girl's bedroom. It was Fleur.

"You think so?" the girl questioned, though her tone was not one of a question, but of a bored statement.

"I know so." her elder sister responded, moving from the doorway to crouch on the floor, where her sister sat.

"Fleur, I'm scared." The words seemed a little alien to Gabrielle, even as she spoke them, as she felt as if she had not spoken them at all. This was the first time she had admitted her true feelings about attending Beauxbattons to anyone but her own mind. However, Fleur seemed to understand immediately, even before the girl had spoken. Maybe she hadn't needed to say it out loud after all.

"I know you are, Gabi. As was I. But it will not be long when you arrive before you make a group of friends, and even though you won't forget completely about Mama and Papa, they will be pushed back in your mind. It will get easier, Gabi. Trust me."

And she did. If there could be any one person that Gabrielle would trust with her own life, it would be Fleur. The elder sister had never once lied to the younger, and she was not about to begin to now.

"Is that what happened to you?" the little girl questioned, looking up at the young woman with unshed tears swimming in her eyes.

"Yes." was the only response the elder gave, as she wrapped her arms tightly around her sister. There they stayed for a good while, simply sitting in each other's arms, relishing the fact that, though they would be together in the school for the next year, they wouldn't always be.

The comforting embrace was interrupted just over a half hour later, when a knock sounded on the door frame, despite the fact that the door itself was wide open.

"Gabrielle?" asked the girls' mother, who was standing patiently in the doorway.

"Yes?" the named girl responded.

"We have to start getting ready now, _mon petit ange_. We should leave for the school soon, or you girls will be late for the carriage. Come along, _alleé_!" the woman told the pair, clapping her hands together as they climbed to their feet. Fleur exited the room to fetch her suitcases. '_And probably to pack them in the first place__.__'_ Gabrielle thought, her mind speaking from experience as she knelt under her bed to grasp the handles of her own, pre-packed cases, along with Princesse's carrier basket and bed, and stood to exit the room with her mother.

At the base of the staircase, Vacheil and Apolline were waiting for their daughters. The woman had already begun to cry, blubbing loudly into her handkerchief and making no attempt to hide it, which is what the man would have wanted to do, had he not been so proud that he would not. They embraced each one in turn and held them close, wanting to keep them as close as possible while they still could.

Fleur would never have even dreamed of crying this year, having done this so many times before, but Gabrielle was using all of her energy not to do so. She was trying to follow Fleur's example, to be as strong as she was, but it was so difficult, and she did not know whether she could do it anymore.

"Gabrielle?" her mother had questioned, seeing the expression on her daughter's face and recognising it. After all, it was not the first time the girl had behaved like this, wanting to follow in her sister's footsteps.

"I'm trying to be brave, like you always told me to. I just want to be strong, Mama." Gabrielle explained, her head hung low and contradicting the words she had spoken.

"Crying is not being weak, _mon petit ange_. It's just being a child. Don't ever think that crying would mean that you weren't strong, because you are." the woman added, taking her little girl's face in her hands and smiling, as the blonde did precisely the same.

"In that case, I think I'm ready. I think I'm ready to start my life."

A/N: Please review!


	5. Not Alone

Chapter Five

A/N: Unfortunately, no reviewers.

Contrary to the young girl's expectations, Beauxbattons had been a brilliant new experience for Gabrielle. It had seemed that Fleur had been right about that, after all.

For one, the younger blonde did not miss home, or her parents, nearly as much as she had expected to do, though that did not mean she had not missed them at all. For the first couple of days, Gabrielle had cried silently into her pillow long into the night, but the feeling had dissipated after a while, leaving only a vague thought at the back of her busied mind.

Fleur had been wonderful towards her sister over the past few days, even making time for her over her own friends, something that she had never done willingly in her life. '_She must be worried about me, if she'll choose to spend time with me over them._' Gabrielle thought, albeit with a tiny note of bitterness that she could not avoid.

However, there had been rumours drifting through the corridors that this year in Beauxbattons would be different to any other. There had been rumours that an ancient tournament was to resurrected, and that the seventh year students were to attend Hogwarts School that year, to participate, or to cheer on the champion.

That presented the first problem. Fleur was a seventh year, and so would be attending the tournament, but Gabrielle, as a first year, would not. It seemed that she would be left alone a lot sooner than she had thought.

Fleur had noticed the change in her sister's attitude, and so had pulled her aside in the dining hall, unable to stand not knowing any longer.

"Gabrielle, what is going on with you lately? You've been so distant, I don't know what to think." Fleur confronted her sister, speaking in a hushed tone so as not to be heard by anyone outside of the conversation, but a little louder than she usually would, to ensure that Gabrielle herself would be able to hear.

"I'm just a little worried, that's all." the girl replied, not wishing to divulge any more than this. As she should have guessed, however, Fleur would not be deterred.

"What about?" the elder persisted, not willing to give up first. She had always been that way, in truth, unable to let anything go, unless she had won the argument in question. Gabrielle opened her mouth once more, prepared to say once again that she was worried about something trivial and nothing more, but the look in Fleur's eyes told her that it would be futile to do so.

"I'm going to be on my own now." the girl told her sister, the quiet pitch at which she did so not hindering the other's hearing.

"Why would you be on your own?" Fleur asked, placing both her hands on the child's shoulders.

"Because you're going to 'Ogwarts, for this Triwizard Tournament. I'm not allowed to go with you, only seventh years are going. So I'm going to be left 'ere, on my own." By the last sentence, a single tear had slipped from Gabrielle's eye. She had not expected to be separated from her sister so soon, and the thought of it was making her more fearful than ever.

Much to the younger Delacour's surprise, while another tear escaped from her eye, Fleur began to laugh. She did not laugh as if she had been told a joke, but as if she knew something that the other did not.

"What is it?" Gabrielle asked, desperate to know why the young woman was being so obnoxious. At the question, Fleur ceased her laughter, though the smile remained on her face.

"Oh, Gabrielle! _Vous __êtes__très bête__, parfois_!" Fleur reprimanded her sister, though there was more than a touch of affection in her voice as she did so.

"I am not!" she exclaimed in response, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. "But anyway, what are you talking about?"

"You didn't really believe I would let you stay 'ere alone, did you?" At the slight nod of her sister's head, the elder continued. "Gabrielle, you're coming with us!"

The young girl's heart skipped a beat. So she wasn't going to be alone for the remainder of the year, after all. It was almost too much to take in, and the young girl was happy beyond belief.

"Oh, you mean it! Oh, Fleur, _merci! Merci beaucoup, ma soeur_!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms tightly around the young woman, who stiffened for a moment, before returning her embrace.

"Don't thank me, _ma bien-aimée_. It's my responsibility to care for you. I am not letting you out of my sight for a moment." the elder stated, a smile spreading across her face, one which her younger sister mirrored. If there had ever been a time in which Gabrielle had been glad that Fleur was so overprotective, it was most definately now.

"Well, I'm glad about that." she told the other blonde, not letting a single word of a falsity escape from her lips, as she meant every syllable she spoke. "Now, I don't 'ave to worry any more."

Suddenly, an intimidating thought entered the young girl's mind, causing her to question herself a little, as well as her sister. '_What if Fleur means to be further involved with this Triwizard Tournament?'_ Gabrielle questioned herself, even her own mind now doubting her. '_What if she enters her name into that championship? What if she is selected to take part?'_

From somewhere inside of her, another voice surfaced, the voice of reason to tell her what she thought she had known. '_No. Fleur would never do something so reckless, with so much danger involved in it. She has more common sense than that. She would never be so stupid.'_

Trying her very best to do so, Gabrielle put all thoughts of the Triwizard Tournament to the back of her mind, concentrating instead on the excitement of going somewhere new. She had never been to Great Britain before, and was sure that she would enjoy the experience.

This was the beginning of something new.

A/N: Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up soon. If you review, it will be quicker.


	6. A New Home

Chapter Six

A/N: Thank you to my brilliant reviewer, RiverTonks.

From the moment she had caught sight of it, casting a glorious shadow over the grass covered hills below, Gabrielle had been astounded by the majesty of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It did not compare to the palace of Beauxbattons, as it was definately a little too rustic to do so, but it was absolutely stunning nonetheless.

The ancient building, famed across the world, had such a strong air of magic that it could be felt from the air far above, even before the castle itself could be seen. This feeling made Gabrielle feel as if she were approaching a home away from home. '_I suppose that now that is what it is.'_ she thought, with a slight smile. '_For a few months, this will be my home.'_

As they drew closer to the ground, the girl saw that there were crowds of students assembled by the edge of the balconies, watching in awe of the golden carriage that flew towards them. '_I doubt that they have seen anything so grand before.'_ she thought, thinking of the elegance that the carriage would show to the children, something which was probably alien to the majority of them, as it was so typically French and the British did not have the type of sophistication that the European school was accustomed to, through no fault of their own, of course. The French and the British had a completely different way of life.

As they landed on the ground, skidding bumpily across the runway as they jumped into the air from the force of the impact, both Gabrielle and Fleur, who sat shakily beside her, among the group of her friends that she had abandoned to stay alongside her sister for the past month. Despite the annoyance she thought would have erupted within the girls, they had all been extremely decent about it, and even gone to the extent of welcoming the girl into their own friendship group, so that she would no longer have been lonely. Because of this, and the renewed relationship she had formed with her elder sister, the young blonde felt that she had not been happier in all her time at Beauxbattons.

Unfortunately, as they landed, Gabrielle was abruptly reminded that she was no longer in Beauxbattons, as the cobbled courtyards and abundant wild moors of Scotland told her each time she glanced around the Hogwarts School grounds. It was quite lovely in its own way, like the image from the front of a British postcard, but it was nothing like the home she had always known. '_Perhaps that may not be a bad thing.'_ Gabrielle told herself. '_Beside, I have always wanted to see new places. You will never get anywhere if you don't. _C'est la vie._'_

The door of the carriage opened immediately, revealing an impossibly large man, with a beard so full and bushy that it seemed to cover a large amount of his rounded face. He wore a brown leather trench coat, and a shirt and trousers that he clearly made for himself, judging by the uneven stitches and mismatched sleeves. However, despite all of this, Gabrielle still felt that the man seemed to be rather endearing.

As they entered the school building, they were immediately ushered downstairs, to a cold and dark set of rooms down a twisting, spiraling staircase. When they were being led down there by the bearded man, who insisted that it was only for their privacy, the girl could have sworn that she heard the man call the section 'the dungeons'. Due to this, although this seemed to be only a playful title, given by years of students and teachers, the young Delacour still found herself looking for chains and shackles.

She had evidently been shaking at the terrifying thought, as Fleur had wrapped an arm about her shoulders, pulling her closer to herself in an attempt to calm her slightly.

"_Ne vous inquiétez pas_, Gabrielle." the elder girl sighed, stroking the edge of her sister's arm. "We will get used to being 'ere. It is only for a few months, after all, and we will be able to go 'ome after."

"I suppose you're right." the younger replied, nodding her head in reluctant agreement. "It isn't for long, and we can go 'ome for 'olidays."

To Gabrielle's confusion, Fleur's gaze fell to the ground, as if she was embarrassed at a secret she had yet to tell her sister, the most common meaning of the look when it came to the eldest Delacour. This made her a little more worried, as the young woman rarely kept secrets.

"What are you 'iding from me?" the younger blonde asked, her tone showing both her confusion and annoyance that her sister would do such a thing. "Fleur, _dites-moi!_"

"Gabrielle, _se calmer!_" Fleur instructed her younger sister, though the frustrated tone in her voice showed that she had no intention of doing so herself. "We are not going 'ome this year _pour __Noël_. Or _pour __Pâques_. We are going 'ome _en été_, and zat is all."

"_Non, ce n'est pas juste!_ I want to go back to _Maman et Papa._ Fleur, I want to go 'ome!" she cried out, drawing the attention of every girl in the group, the majority of which turned and stared at the sisters, whispering unkind words in their groups of friends about the girl who appeared to be too young to have been taken from her _maman_.

"Gabrielle, stop! You sound like a child who 'as not got 'er own way, and zat is what you seem to be, as well!" the elder sister snapped, her face flushing a little at the anger she was expressing, though she now spoke in a rather more hushed voice than she had done previously, in an attempt to lessen the crowd around them. "We are staying 'ere, and zat is final."

At her sister's words, the young blonde closed her mouth, no longer able nor willing to fight in return. The Triwizard Tournament was already tearing her family apart, though it would do so far more when the championship began.

The pain of the challenges had not even begun, after all.

A/N: Please review!


	7. Entrance to Doom

Chapter Seven

A/N: Thanks to Slytherin66 for reviewing. You really helped me to write.

As night ascended over the lake beside Hogwarts castle, Gabrielle nerves grew further with the impending darkness. Tonight, they would be presented to the students of both of the other schools participating in the Triwizard Tournament, both Hogwarts and another academy named Durmstrang, made up of primarily male students from the southeastern European country of Bulgaria, much to the excitement of Fleur's friends, who had not seen a boy for months, due to attending an academy that mainly housed young ladies.

Their presentation had been meticulously planned by the professors involved in the Tournament, and so the probability that anything would go wrong within it was minimal. Though she was performing separately to the other girls, as Fleur was doing, it was not the fear of forgetting the routine that Gabrielle was experiencing, as the other girls did, rather the fear of the people in general.

She had heard, from the whispers which had been circulating since even before they had arrived in the strange castle, that Harry Potter was a student of Hogwarts, and that he would be attending every moment of the Triwizard Tournament alongside them. The thought of this excited the young girl all the more, as even in France and further, the Boy who Lived was famed for his brave actions against Lord Voldemort when he was just a child, as he still was, in truth, though not quite as small of one as he had been at the time.

The idea of such a famous young man being in attendance at the school where she was to be staying for the next year made the place ever more appealing to the eight year old, something which she had thought would be near to impossible, given how many things Gabrielle sorely missed from her country of birth. However, even the wonders of beautiful France had nothing to compare to the amazement the child was experiencing at the fact that she would be living under the same roof as the most well-known boy of their age. Whether or not he noticed her, or whether she actually even saw him often, was essentially irrelevant. It was the point that she made by being in such close proximity to such a celebrity that counted in the end.

Fleur, however, did not seem to be anywhere near as taken with the young Potter boy as her younger sister was, seeming to be far more interesting in preparing for her entrance into the competition, in which she was determined to represent the academy she had attended for the previous seven years, despite Gabrielle's attempts to convince her not to do so.

"It is an honour to be considered to represent Beauxbattons." Fleur had told her, when she had been questioned about the Tournament by her sister. "And I think zat it would be an insult to our teachings if I did not enter into the opportunity to take that honour."

"You're entering?" the younger blonde had asked, the shock in her expression extremely clear. "Fleur, _non_! What would _Maman _say about this? Can you 'ear what you're saying? It's not just dangerous, it's ridiculous!"

"It's the right thing to do, Gabrielle!" the elder girl exclaimed, trying with all her might to keep her voice at such a level that the girls standing only a dozen feet away could not hear clearly the words she spoke. "I am perfectly capable of doing what is required to compete in this tournament, and of achieving the honour of winning it for Beauxbattons. I am the most likely girl 'ere to win, and so why would I not give myself, and the Academy, a chance to do so?"

"Because you could be killed in fighting, Fleur. Listen to me!" the child exclaimed, her throat beginning to ache from all the arguing she had done, much more than she had ever done, especially with Fleur, who always seemed to share her opinions, or almost always, at least.

"_Non_, Gabrielle! I am entering zis Triwizard Tournament, and you cannot stop me from doing so!" The tone of the young woman's voice showed that she would not here any more about the matter, a tone that the girl had come to know very well over the years, as had her parents, Fleur's and even the family pets. It was for this reason that the girl had seen fit to stop arguing.

"Alright, compete." the young girl told his sister, a slight smile on her face, though it was the wildest one she could bring herself to muster. "I will root for you. I may not be 'appy about zis, but I will support."

"Why ze sudden change of 'eart?" Fleur questioned, her voice a great deal softer than it had been, so soft that it was almost inaudible.

"_Tu est ma souer._" the younger girl returned, by way of an explanation. "No matter what tournaments you enter into, or how dangerous they are, _tu est ma souer_."

"_Merci_, Gabrielle." the elder had thanked, speaking in a true tone of gratitude. A slight pause followed, but not too lengthy of one, as the two sisters moved in tandem, wrapping their arms around each other in a warm and comforting embrace, as both of them needed comforting really, one of them due to the fact that she would be competing in a deadly contest, and the other due to the fact that she would need to watch, helpless, as her sister did so. Fleur was the one that had drawn away first, though she kept one arm wrapped around Gabrielle's smaller shoulders, leading the girl slightly in the direction of the other Beauxbattons students. "Come along, _mon petit ange._ We must join ze others again."

"_Oui, ma soeur._" the young blonde responded, a smile returning to her face, despite the fact that she had been fearing the event that would occur if they did so ever since they had arrived. She had found now that she did not truly care anymore. She did not need to fear, because she had the only protection she needed.

She had Fleur. For now.

A/N: Please review, as a birthday present!


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